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Despite having established several legal frameworks promoting digital accessibility, Nepal lacks implementation resulting in significant gaps across healthcare websites. This writeup examines the current state of web accessibility in Nepal government’s health-related websites based on WAVE API analysis of the eight homepages, namely https://www.mohp.gov.np, https://www.dohs.gov.np, https://www.fwd.gov.np, https://www.digitalhealth.mohp.gov.np, https://www.nhpc.gov.np, https://www.iom.edu.np, https://www.bpkhis.edu and https://www.dda.gov.np  

Nepal doesn’t lack the legal instruments for digital accessibility, however, there seems to be a gap in their implementation. The Right to Information Act of 2007 ensures that every person has the right to access and regulate information. Nepal signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 3 Jan 2008, which also requires infrastructure so that information and communication is accessible to all. Health is similarly among the eight priority sectors for digital transformation in the Digital Nepal Framework. The National ICT Policy (2015) and the National Broadband Policy (2016) add weight to the drive for digital growth, but challenges in implementation persist.

The analysis of eight healthcare-related government websites reveal concerning patterns across multiple domains. This analysis was done using a Python program and WebAIM’s accessibility WAVE API. 

The eight homepages averaged 30.43 Errors, 23.00 Contrast Issues and 28.00 Alerts per site. These numbers indicate significant accessibility barriers for users with disabilities.

WebAIM defines errors as accessibility issues that are almost always barriers for users with disabilities and require immediate attention. Contrast issues occur when there is insufficient color contrast between text (or images of text) and its background, making content difficult or even impossible to read for users with low vision or color blindness. Alerts refer to potential accessibility issues that may not be definitive problems but still require review or further manual evaluation.

The eight homepages we analyzed had 62 empty links that don’t tell users where they will go when clicked. There are 51 images missing alternative text, which means people who can’t see the images won’t know what they contain. The site also has 46 linked images that are missing alternative text, making it impossible for screen reader users to understand where clicking these images would take them. Additionally, there are 19 buttons that have no text or labels, leaving users with disabilities confused about what these buttons do. Finally, the websites’ homepages contain 17 empty headings that don’t describe the content of their sections, making navigation difficult for people using assistive technology.

We believe several factors contribute to the current state of web accessibility in Nepal’s healthcare sector. One major factor is resource limitations, as widespread poverty and inadequate telecommunications infrastructure in rural areas restrict access to digital services. Another significant issue is the awareness gap—there is a general lack of understanding about the transformative potential of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), including websites, for improving the lives of persons with disabilities. Finally, policy implementation challenges persist; although legal frameworks exist, there is a lack of a suitable policy environment specifically designed to promote ICT accessibility.

Poor digital accessibility, especially in health-related websites, has severe consequences in Nepal, where difficult terrain, limited infrastructure, and frequent natural disasters like floods and earthquakes already hinder access to care. In rural areas, where physical services are scarce, digital platforms become essential. Yet, inaccessible websites exclude persons with disabilities, causing dangerous delays in receiving critical updates on safety protocols and medical aid. Government platforms must be accessible to ensure rapid, inclusive information delivery during crises, as inaccessibility in such moments can cost lives. In Nepal, an estimated two percent of the population with disabilities, including roughly 94,000 visually impaired and 79,000 hearing-impaired individuals, face significant barriers accessing healthcare information due to non-compliant website design on key health portals such as the Department of Health Services. We see basic keyboard navigation failures and violation of semantic markup standards which results in exclusion of people from vital emergency directives and service updates.

Based on the analysis, several strategies aligned with international standards could significantly improve digital accessibility in Nepal’s healthcare websites. First, accessibility policy implementation is essential—specific digital accessibility guidelines for government healthcare websites should be enforced based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Second, training and awareness efforts must be strengthened by investing in capacity building for web developers and content creators, equipping them with the necessary skills and knowledge on accessibility principles and techniques. Third, regular auditing should be incorporated into the website development and maintenance cycle to ensure that accessibility is not overlooked over time. 

Additionally, applying the 80-20 rule by prioritizing critical fixes—such as addressing empty links, missing alternative text, and contrast issues—can lead to significant improvements with relatively minimal effort. Lastly, the government can leverage the Rural Telecom Development Fund to finance accessibility initiatives and promote the development of assistive technologies in local languages. These strategies, if properly implemented, can help create a more inclusive digital healthcare environment for all, including persons with disabilities.

Poor web accessibility in Nepal’s healthcare websites creates a significant digital barrier that exacerbates existing challenges in healthcare access. These accessibility barriers—primarily empty links, missing alternative text and poor contrast—effectively exclude persons with disabilities from accessing critical health information in a country where 79.42 percent of the population lives in rural areas, facing financial, geographical and infrastructural challenges to healthcare access. The digital divide is particularly concerning as Nepal increasingly relies on digital health initiatives to overcome its rugged terrain, proclivity to natural disasters and limited physical infrastructure. While some sites like Digital Health show progress, others contain numerous barriers that prevent equal access for persons with disabilities. Addressing these issues will require coordinated efforts across technical, policy and awareness dimensions. As Nepal continues its digital transformation in healthcare, ensuring accessibility should be integrated into development processes from the beginning rather than added as an afterthought.

When I first stepped into pageantry, I remember thinking to myself that I would continue to bloom as I am. Whether that meant wearing natural fabrics, no fake eyelashes, unpainted nails, or eco-friendly makeup—it would all still be me.

For almost three weeks now, with the help of many ecopreneurs and eco-designers, we’ve done it. We stayed true to that intention.

Our Beauty with a Purpose, Pancha Pranali, was a promise to our country—a promise to stop using words like “underprivileged” or “underdeveloped,” and instead share our strengths with the world. Although this may not be the conventional way of measuring impact, we have been practicing something deeper: the impact of shifting perspectives.

I had the courage to take part in the 72nd Miss World because a little teenager once believed in her own strength. So why wouldn’t I do the same for my country?

In the last two years alone, almost a million people have left Nepal for foreign employment. A narrative that removes indigenous strengths from its people can be dangerous. I want us to remember what we’ve always held—that it’s not global challenges we carry, but global solutions.

Miss World has been a platform where I could live my purpose—sometimes in the smallest of ways. And the support I’ve received for this abstract journey has been truly heartwarming.

It was never about winning. It was always about blooming—fully, simply—as a daughter of the Earth. Everything else can come later.

Tomorrow might mark the end of this chapter, but it’s the beginning of many more journeys for Nepal. And once again, I will not be asking for votes—because I never began this journey to bring the crown home. I simply ask you to breathe with me—with the trees, the birds, the rivers and more—and to remember: Our crown was always in our home.Strength is always in her home.

Most recently, top bureaucrats have pushed to remove the cooling-off clause from a bill passed by the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of the House of Representatives. This clause provides that civil servants become eligible for political appointments only after two years of retirement. The objection from senior officials has triggered widespread debate about the importance of cooling-off periods and the broader implications of the revolving door phenomenon.

When public officials move quickly into private or political roles after their tenure, it raises serious concerns about conflicts of interest, fair governance and the credibility of public institutions. To reduce these risks, many countries have introduced “cooling-off periods” or “revolving door laws” to restrict such movements for a certain time. In Nepal’s case, this issue calls not just for clause-based reforms but for a full legal framework that addresses all aspects of post-retirement appointments.

Global approaches and legal foundations

The concept of a cooling-off period took root in the United States with the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, introduced after the Watergate scandal. This law prohibited former public officials from lobbying the departments where they previously worked for a certain period. Later, the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 reinforced these efforts by setting clear one- or two-year bans for high-ranking officials entering lobbying roles. The objective was to prevent future private benefits from influencing decisions made during public service.

India also recognized this issue. The All India Services (Conduct) Rules prevent retired civil servants from taking up commercial jobs without prior government approval. In Center for Public Interest Litigation v Union of India (2011), the Supreme Court of India emphasized the need for ethics in public life, particularly when it comes to awarding contracts or appointing regulators. The Court pointed out the dangers of private companies using insider information gained during government service. However, enforcement and political commitment remain inconsistent.

The United Kingdom has implemented a more structured system. It established the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA), which reviews post-service job proposals by ministers and senior officials. While ACOBA's advice is not legally binding, public and media scrutiny help discourage questionable transitions. In the case of Porter v Magill, 2001, UKHL 67, the House of Lords stressed administrative fairness. The Court ruled that any decision could be struck down if a “fair-minded and informed observer” believed there was a real chance of bias. The case involved a council trying to manipulate housing policies for political benefit, highlighting the importance of impartial governance.

Nepal’s framework and challenges

Nepal has recognized the importance of cooling-off periods in various sectors, though its application remains fragmented and inconsistent. For example, the Nepal Rastra Bank Act prohibits employees of the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) from joining banks and financial institutions (BFIs) for up to three years after leaving their positions. This provision reflects an awareness of potential conflicts of interest in the financial sector and seeks to safeguard public trust. In the judiciary, the Constitution imposes restrictions on judges, allowing them to take on only certain specialized roles as explicitly permitted. Judges also regularly recuse themselves from cases where there is a potential conflict of interest or a reasonable perception of bias.

One of Nepal’s key issues is the absence of an independent institution to review post-retirement appointments. Unlike the UK’s ACOBA, Nepal has no formal mechanism to assess whether a new role for a former official might pose risks of undue influence. Appointments to important bodies, commissions and advisory groups often lack transparency and are based more on political links than merit. The proposed Federal Civil Service Bill 2023 introduces a two-year cooling-off period requiring government approval before any constitutional, political, and diplomatic appointment. Yet, recent opposition from senior officials illustrates the challenge of implementing these rules when personal interests are at stake.

High-ranking civil servants frequently take on politically sensitive roles soon after retiring, undermining the independence and credibility of the institutions they join. The law also lacks a clear definition of “political appointment,” allowing for vague interpretations and selective enforcement. This legal gap makes it easier for influential individuals to bypass accountability.

To improve governance, Nepal should move toward passing a comprehensive revolving door law. Such a law should provide clear definitions of post-retirement roles, specify which types of appointments are restricted, and create an independent ethics body with authority to investigate and enforce the law. This would help ensure that decisions made in public service are not influenced by future personal benefits.

Nepal can also learn from global experiences. Requiring public disclosure of post-retirement roles and decisions made by a reviewing authority would increase transparency. Similarly, issuing a “cooling-off certificate” before an official takes a new job could create a system that is both fair and regulated.

Conclusion
For Nepal to build stronger democratic institutions and maintain public confidence, it must develop a unified, binding legal framework to manage post-retirement roles for public officials. A clearly-defined cooling-off period, backed by an independent review mechanism and precise legal definitions, will help prevent conflicts of interest and promote ethical governance.

The ongoing parliamentary discussions offer a timely opportunity to address this issue. Although there is resistance from vested interests, lawmakers must prioritize reforms that reflect the public interest. Transparency, impartiality and integrity should guide Nepal’s governance. By adapting successful global practices to the national context, Nepal can ensure that public service remains a commitment to the nation—not a shortcut to personal advantage.

Nepal’s federal transition has devolved into one of the most expensive and socially divisive political projects in the nation’s history, characterized not only by staggering fiscal waste including billions in infrastructure losses and over 17,000 conflict-related deaths but also by profound human costs manifested through systemic violence, mass displacement, and institutional abandonment. While President Ramchandra Paudel’s 11-point policy agenda for FY 2025-26 demonstrates conceptual viability, its potential remains neutered by three decades of institutional paralysis and implementation failure, reflecting a fundamental disconnect between policy formulation and execution. 

The current wave of social unrest of encompassing victims of financial fraud, debt-ridden microfinance clients, disenfranchised educators and disillusioned healthcare providers reveals the paradoxical reality of Nepal’s federal experiment: a thinly-veiled centralization of power perpetuated by the recycled political elite that has dominated Nepal’s governance structures for decades. These entrenched actors have weaponized federal rhetoric while maintaining extractive governance patterns, transforming what should be a devolutionary framework into an institutional facade that legitimizes traditional patronage networks. The central crisis lies not in federalism’s design, but in its strategic subversion by a political class that has perfected the art of state institutional capture.

The political economy

Federalism, in theory, represents a dual imperative: preserving autonomy of subnational politics while ensuring coordinated governance under a constitutional compact. Esteemed political economists like JE Chubb and Wallace E Oates, etc argue that successful federations require institutional alignment between political structures and economic policies to enhance resource and power allocative efficiency and equitable growth. Nepal’s 2015 Constitution beautifully sought to operationalize these principles through power delineations (Annexes 6–9), among subnational politics envisioning a shift from unitary centralism to cooperative federalism.

The Ministry of Finance reveals concerning fiscal trends, marked by rising expenditures, inefficient debt management, and persistent structural imbalances. In FY 2022/23, consolidated government spending surged by 11.1 percent (Rs 11,656.07bn), with current expenditures (56.3 percent of total spending) far outpacing capital investments (31.85 percent). While net current expenditure grew by 8.5 percent (Rs 932.39bn), capital expenditure saw only a 7.6 percent increase (Rs 527.45bn), a troubling indicator of misaligned fiscal priorities that favor recurrent costs over productive investment. More alarming is the 38.9 percent spike in debt servicing (Rs 196.23bn), reflecting deepening fiscal stress and potential governance inefficiencies in public financial management. The federal government dominated expenditures (61.8 percent), while provinces and local governments key subnational politics in Nepal’s federal structure remained fiscally constrained (10.8 percent and 27.4 percent, respectively). Despite Rs 397.36bn in intergovernmental transfers, the limited fiscal autonomy of subnational governments raises concerns about decentralization in practice.

Revenue collection (Rs 1,042.64bn) narrowly exceeded current expenditures, yet the federal deficit ballooned to 9.33 percent of GDP (up from 5.95 percent in FY 2021/22), signaling unsustainable fiscal practices. This deterioration suggests structural weaknesses in revenue mobilization, compounded by over-reliance on intergovernmental transfers rather than endogenous revenue generation. The Department of Customs (FY 2023-24) data underscore Nepal’s chronic trade imbalance, with imports (Rs 1,611.73bn) dwarfing exports (Rs 152.38bn) with an import-to-export ratio of 10.45:1. With 91.97 percent of trade value tied to imports, Nepal’s economy remains critically dependent on foreign goods, exposing vulnerabilities to external shocks. Export composition remains undiversified, dominated by low-value-added goods (soybean oil, sunflower oil, synthetic yarn), reflecting a failure to industrialize or move up the value chain. Meanwhile, remittance inflows
(Rs 1,051.77bn, up 9.4 percent) provide temporary stability but mask deeper structural flaws—Nepal’s economy is consumption-driven rather than production-oriented, perpetuating dependency rather than development. Without structural reforms, tax base expansion, export diversification and genuine fiscal decentralization, Nepal risks entrenching a low-growth, high-debt trajectory, where federalism becomes a facade for centralized inefficiency rather than a driver of equitable development.

Public goods and services

Key governance institutions spanning education, healthcare, social protection, disaster resilience, agriculture, security, courts services, public administration services and natural resource governance have regressed into systemic wickedness, marking a profound failure of the state’s foundational obligations. This institutional disintegration has precipitated a near-total breakdown in service delivery, rendering even the most basic public goods and services inaccessible to ordinary citizens. The education and health system, theoretically a mechanism for equitable advancement, now functions as a hollowed-out structure, marred by dilapidated facilities, chronic teacher deficits and catastrophic learning deficiencies. Private schools are out of control in many ways. Parallel decay plagues healthcare, which has bifurcated into a privatized escape for the affluent and a crumbling public sector plagued by staffing crises, medication scarcities and exploitative costs. The rural development languishes due to technocratic neglect and incoherent policy, and natural resource governance has devolved into institutionalized predation by political elites. This comprehensive institutional failure underscores a broader neoliberal devolution: the state has abdicated its role as a welfare guarantor, instead morphing into an extractive apparatus servicing elite patronage networks. The outcome is a pure privatization of basic rights: education, healthcare and security; transforming constitutional entitlements into exclusionary commodities. Nepal thus exemplifies a state in which governance failure is not incidental but engineered, sustaining hierarchies of access while eroding the very notion of public sovereignty.

Socioeconomic implications

These structural deficiencies have precipitated severe trade imbalances and accelerated youth outmigration, as domestic economic opportunities remain stifled. The inability to channel revenues into productive capital investments perpetuates a cycle of underdevelopment, exacerbating dependency on remittances and foreign credits. Unless Nepal addresses these institutional and governance failures, its fiscal policies will continue to fall short of generating sustainable, inclusive growth. Nepal’s political class has weaponized federalism to consolidate power rather than decentralize it.

Conclusion: Revolt or renewal?

Nepal’s federal experiment has collapsed not from constitutional flaws but through calculated sabotage by an entrenched oligarchy that has converted governance into patrimonial rule, hollowing out the 2015 Constitution’s devolutionary vision through pseudo-federal institutions maintaining feudal power structures. The political theater of recycled leaders staging mass spectacles merely legitimizes an extractive regime where federalism serves as institutional camouflage for centralized kleptocracy, with parties operating as patronage cartels prioritizing graft over governance, systematically eroding meritocracy and converting state apparatus into private wealth engines. This deliberate institutional subversion leaves Nepal facing existential alternatives: either radical democratic restructuring through constitutional and political overhaul or revolutionary breakdown when governance systems implode, with survival contingent on dismantling the recycled elite's stranglehold and creating authentic accountability mechanisms. The Nepali paradox offers a seminal case of how constitutional progressivism fails when implemented without disrupting entrenched power cultures and incentive structures.

The author is former chairperson of NEPSE